atlas_shruggs's reviews
239 reviews

The Minister's Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Far heimur, far sæll by Ófeigur Sigurðsson

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funny informative mysterious relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Þetta er sannarlega mjög athyglisverð bók. Hún vakti fyrst áhuga minn þegar ég lærði að hún fjallaði um Kambsránið, glæp sem ég vissi ekkert um áður en ég byrjaði að lesa þessa bók. Ég varð algjörlega ástfanginn af fyrsta kaflanum og hefði líklegast gefið honum 5 stjörnur, en því miður dróg restin af bókinni einkunn hennar niður.
Öll bókin er rosalega vel skrifuð og gefur lesandanum góða innsýn í lífið á Íslandi á 19. öld og fannst mér það mjög áhugavert. Sú ákvörðun að gera sögumanninn að Móra sem fylgir söguhetjunum var mjög skemmtileg og bætti miklu við söguna, en þar sem mér fannst hún fremur langdregin get ég ekki í góðri samvisku gefið henni hærri einkunn.

Vetrarmein by Ragnar Jónasson

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

My first attempt at reading Nordic noir (specifically Icelandic) did not go very well to say the least. Perhaps I should have started with the first book in the series, maybe that would've made the best experience more enjoyable, but I found the characters to be unbelievably flat and irritating. Ari didn't seem to give a shit about the case, his thoughts the entire time were either consumed by his ex or by Ugla. Like I get that he had a lot going on but Jesus. And then he kept saying that him and Kristín had broken up because he focused so much on work, but he barely focused on it at all.
I found the murder mystery to be lacking as well, I just didn't feel particularly keen to find out what happened.
Also I was promised a storm and it barely even made an appearance. I was hoping for a more locked room mystery vibe with the town closing down, but unfortunately that is not at all what I got.

Lucian's True History: The First Known Story of Space Travel, Aliens, and Interplanetary Warfare by A. H. Bullen, Lucian Of Samosata

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I've read fast paced stories before, but this one is on another level of fast paced, it puts Road Runner to shame. I did quite enjoy it however. It's the first time I've read a fictional work that explicitly tells me that everything I'm about to read is a blatant lie, and I genuinely found it changed the reading experience for me.
Also Lukianos has the wildest imagination I have ever encountered, whatever he was on I would like a piece of thank you very much.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

If this book had focused on Jude and Willem's relationship and love story, it would've been a 4,5. The last third is definitely a 4,5 but unfortunately I disliked the first 500 pages were so unforgiveably bad that I cannot in good conscience give it more than 1 star.
Don't get me wrong, the prose is beautiful and the character creation was spectacular but it truly does just read like ~800 pages of trauma porn. The overly graphic descriptions of Jude's self harm made me gag more than once and the fact that this is at least the second work from Yanagihara that features graphic sexual violence against children is alarming to say the least.
I did absolutely adore Willem and the chapters from his point of view were amazing, but it just couldn't save the book as a whole.

Content Warnings